Overview

Brown in the Windy Cityis the first history to examine the migration and settlement of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in postwar Chicago. Lilia Fernández reveals how the two populations arrived in Chicago in the midst of tremendous social and economic change and, in spite of declining industrial employment and massive urban renewal projects, managed to carve out a geographic and racial place in one of America's great cities. Through their experiences in the city's central neighborhoods over the course of these three decades, Fernández demonstrates how Mexicans and Puerto Ricans collectively articulated a distinct racial position in Chicago, one that was flexible and fluid, neither black nor white.

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9780226212845

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Reviews

""With astute attention to the parallel trajectories and overlapping nature of Mexican Americans' and Puerto Ricans' histories, Fernandez paints a rich portrait of neighborhood life, moving beyond broad strokes and the white-black racial binary. Told with detail, substance, and nuance, Brown in the Windy City is an important story that is likely to become a foundational book."" (Carmen Teresa Whalen, author of From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies)""

A work of striking originality, scope, and nuance, Brown in the Windy City provides the most comprehensive treatment of the entwined histories of ethnic Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Fernandez's study marks a major intervention in the history of race and racialization, urban history, and interdisciplinary Latino studies scholarship. --David G. Guti rrez University of California, San Diego

With astute attention to the parallel trajectories and overlapping nature of Mexican Americans' and Puerto Ricans' histories, Fernandez paints a rich portrait of neighborhood life, moving beyond broad strokes and the white-black racial binary. Told with detail, substance, and nuance, Brown in the Windy City is an important story that is likely to become a foundational book. (Carmen Teresa Whalen, author of From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies)

Author Information

Lilia Fernandez is associate professor in the Department of History at Ohio State University.

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